Area flu rates increase

Friday

Jan 24, 2014 at 10:12 AMJan 24, 2014 at 10:12 AM

By Nancy HastingsTwitter: @nhastingsHDN

HILLSDALE – The Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency, along with area doctors, are reporting a slight increase in influenza activity for the tri-county area.Health Officer Steve Todd announced that the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza for the three-county health jurisdiction jumped from three to eight cases Wednesday.“January is typically the month when we start to see flu activity increase,” Todd said. “While counties around us have been reporting many more cases, we have, until today, seen very little laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza.”Much of communicable disease reporting is aggregated on a regional basis, he said. For example, Hillsdale County is part of a nine-county region, which also includes Clinton, Eaton, Gratiot, Ingham, Jackson, Lenawee, Livingston and Shiawassee Counties.As of Jan. 22, 2014, this region had reported 224 confirmed cases of influenza since the beginning of the flu season.Until Wednesday, only one of those cases came from Hillsdale County.“Today, four additional confirmed cases of influenza were reported to the health department for Hillsdale County, bringing their total number of confirmed cases to five,” Todd said.Hillsdale Pediatrician Jon Herbener said his practice has seen few confirmed cases of influenza since immunization is emphasized among staff and patients.“We’ve been very fortunate in that we’ve seen only a few,” Herbener said. “In our practice it (vaccination) is a high priority. We gave out nearly 1,000 vaccinations in the office practice and so far it’s been very effective.”Branch and St. Joseph Counties are part of a different region, which also includes Allegan, Barry, Berrien, Calhoun, Cass, Kalamazoo and Van Buren Counties. This region had reported 59 laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza between Oct. 1, 2013 and Jan. 21, 2014, of which three came from Branch County.“St. Joseph County has not reported any laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza so far this flu season,” he added.In addition to confirmed cases of influenza, the health department also receives reports of influenza-like illnesses from local physician offices, daycares and schools.Prevention Services Director Kim Brown said physicians are required to report flu-like illnesses through the Michigan Disease Surveillance System (MDSS). In addition, the health department has implemented an electronic reporting system for schools and day care providers that seeks to capture information as to why a child is absent due to illness.This electronic Communicable Disease Surveillance System helps to fill in the gaps quickly as to when an outbreak has occurred and provides insight as to where it might have started, Brown said.“It’s very important that people state the specific symptoms they are seeing when they report their child’s absence,” Brown said. “It helps us monitor disease events and to determine what additional steps are needed to contain an outbreak.”Based upon information provided from MDSS, the health department has reported 921 cases of flu-like illness across the three counties since Sept. 1, 2013, which is slightly less than what has been reported in previous years for the same time period.That’s the good news, Todd said. The bad news is that the most prevalent virus being confirmed is the H1N1 virus, also known as the swine flu.“H1N1 is a very serious illness and appears to pose a greater threat to children, young and middle-age adults,” Todd said.Todd emphasizes the need for vaccination.“Within both of our regions, we are seeing high rates of hospitalization associated with this virus and in some cases, deaths have occurred,” he said. “These numbers are disturbing given that all seasonal influenza vaccines provide protection from H1N1. We continue to warn the public that vaccination is their best weapon. We recommend that everyone over 6-months get vaccinated.”

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